ArticlePLOS mental health2025
A qualitative study of Ebola survivors' psychological experiences of evacuation, treatment and community reintegration: Lessons in holistic person-centred care from the 2022 outbreak in Uganda.
Article in PLOS mental health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is associated with significant mental health and psychosocial problems among patients/survivors. Effective strategies for addressing these problems necessitate an in-depth understanding of the sociocultural, economic and political context of the outbreaks, and survivors' own experiences of the disease. Yet, such context and survivors' experiences remain inadequately understood. We explore the pre- and post-diagnosis/treatment and post-recovery experiences of survivors of the 2022 EVD outbreak in Mubende District (Uganda) and draw lessons for better management of future outbreaks. A qualitative study was undertaken in Mubende District to explore the lived experiences of various categories of persons affected by the outbreak. Participants were sampled purposively. In-depth interviews were held with 15 EVD survivors. A thematic analysis of data was done. Our findings reveal that across the entire spectrum of their encounter with EVD, patients had a range of overwhelmingly stressful experiences that, according to the participants, took a toll on their mental health. These included stigma during evacuation and on return to their communities upon discharge, perceived inhuman treatment from health workers, lack of epidemic preparedness at the EVD facilities, witnessing frequent EVD deaths due to the EVD Treatment Unit's open/unpartitioned ward, delayed removal of dead bodies from the shared ward, systemic lapses in health services and EVD-induced livelihoods challenges. In conclusion, EVD patients'/survivors' experiences across the entire spectrum of their illness - from the period before diagnosis to their treatment at the EVD Treatment Unit and, later, their re-integration into their communities - are characterised with high levels of unattended, self-reported psychological distress. We propose a holistic person-centred approach to healthcare for EVD suspects, confirmed cases and survivors. Additionally, EVD education and sensitisation programs need to target health workers, among other population groups.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.